The Opportunists (2000)

Director:

Myles Connell

Writer:

Myles Connell (written by)

Release Date:

11 August 2000 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

When crime is all you know, you've got to take what you can.

Plot:

A struggling auto mechanic with a criminal past agrees to one last heist to pay off his debts.

Plot Keywords:

Auto Mechanic | Debt | Heist | Bar | Fistfight

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Christopher Walken	...	Victor 'Vic' Kelly
Peter McDonald	...	Michael 'Mikey' Lawler, aka Michael Kelly (as Peter Mcdonald)
Anne Pitoniak	...	Aunt Diedre 'Dee'
Kate Burton	...	Rest Home Sister
Jim Mayzik	...	Rest Home Priest
Vera Farmiga	...	Miriam Kelly
Donal Logue	...	Pat Duffy
Cyndi Lauper	...	Sally Mahon
Paul D'Amato	...	Dylan
Wally Dunn	...	Harry
Olek Krupa	...	Ted Walikaki
Chuck Cooper	...	Arnon Morris
John Ortiz	...	Ismail Espinoza
José Zúñiga	...	Jesus Del Toro (as Jose Zuniga)
Brandon Vega	...	Tony Del Toro

MPAA:

Rated R for language.

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

Polish | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Netherlands:6 | Australia:M | Germany:6 | USA:R

Company:

Clinica Estetico

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When they are renovating the bar, the painter in the background is moving the paint roller up and down the wall, but no paint is transferring onto the wall.

Soundtrack:

Swimming Pool Blue

Very little action, but fine "character study" starring Christopher Walken.

Christopher Walken and his girlfriend played by Cindi lauper are both New Yorkers so I'm certain they both felt right at home in their roles. Many who like fast action, snappy dialog types of films will be bored with this one. However, for those like me who enjoy a great, well-developed character study carried out in about 88 minutes, this is worth a viewing.

Walken plays a safe-cracker who has served his time and trying to go straight, working as a mechanic, and paying for his old aunt to stay in a home run by nuns. Always on the verge of debt, the sale of his car is saboutaged by someone wanting to get him to do one more job, the safe at the armored car office. So, pressured from all sides, he agrees.

In the safe, his halpess "helper", posing as a cousin from Ireland, gets Walken trapped and caught by the cops. He gets out of it when the business owner, who also runs an illegal laundering operation, fails to press charges. We see walken going back into Lauper's bar, presumably to live straight from then on.

The story thus is sorta victimless. Although Walken and the others are helped by the one money bag that is successfully stolen by the Irish guy, then split up, it was money illegally gotten. We are, I suppose, to forgive Walken because he had no choice. The most interesting scene was where he was practicing "cracking" the 3 different safe combinations within 6 minutes to avoid setting off the alarm.

The DVD is "budget" all the way - Dolby AC-3 sound, no menu, no extras. However, the sound and picture are not deficient, given the formats. Just a well-acted, low-budget film, and I enjoyed it.